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The shortlist for the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 2022 is out, and Circle members Billy Abbott and Amanda Barnes are both shortlisted for the Debut Drink Book Award. Now in its tenth edition, the awards celebrate drinks, cookery and food books as well as awards for food and drinks writers and televisions presenters. For the Debut Drink Book Award, Billy Abbott is shortlisted with ...

Jancis Robinson has recorded and launched a wine education course on the new BBC Maestro platform. As one of the world's most esteemed wine experts, Robinson’s course offers lessons focused on debunking common wine myths, breaking down tasting techniques, and deciphering both labels and the language of wine. While choosing a bottle can, at least initially, feel like a daunting experience, Robinson...

Married MWs Susie Barrie and Peter Richards launched their Big English Wine Adventure back in 2016 – the warmest year recorded on earth until that point – when they made a traditional method sparkling Blanc de Blancs in conjunction with Hampshire winery Hattingley Valley. They’ve since added a 2017 Meunier/Chardonnay sparkling blend and a 2018 red Pinot Noir made in collaboration with one of En...

Throughout her career, Aleesha has been drawn to stories of people and places. This interest led her to study the NCTJ Diploma, going on to work as a multimedia journalist, before producing TV documentaries. It was a natural progression when she fell into the wine trade, after many a year as an engaged consumer, and quickly became fascinated by the anthropology of wine and the role it plays in ...

William F. O’Connor, Ed.D, is a longtime resident of Japan, where he served on the faculty of Asia University for more than three decades and currently holds the title “Professor Emeritus.” He is the author of numerous publications on topics ranging from English-language education to political propaganda and is the co-author of the book Drinking Japan: It’s Not Just Sake. His blog drinkingjapan.o...

“Too often Bordeaux has been portrayed as a gated community of overpriced wines,” says Jane Anson, noted author and expert on the wines of the region, “but the Bordeaux of today is one of the most exciting wine regions of the world, not only making wines with precision and ambition but increasingly at the forefront of the green movement, and reclaiming its role as centre of the global wine trade.”...

Simon Field, an Oxford languages graduate, was lucky to escape from the world of Chartered Accountancy, having qualified with KMPG in 1991, and then spent a couple of misguided years working for an American Bank in such cosseted dens as Monaco, Guernsey and Gibraltar. In 1995 he joined Oddbins, scaling the heights of a managerial position in the Belgravia branch, an up-market broom cupboard as it...